Carl Webster

It is quite difficult to find information on this composer. The following is all I have discovered so far. Please let me know if you find more biographical information and where you got it. Thanks!

Carl Webster was born in 1883 in the United States. He began playing cello when he was five and played in his family's quartet, touring the countryside. Later, in Boston, he performed with the Boston Festival Orchestra, taught there, and declined an invitation in 1918 to play with the Boston Symphony Orchestra because he had too many students at the time. He retired in Maine and played with an orchestra in Lincolnville. He died in 1945. 

The above information was found on cellofun.yuku.com, which I accessed August 6, 2016.

I have obtained more - and more accurate - information! This photo of Mr. WebsterThe following is his obituary, which appeared in the Bangor Daily News after his death on March 17, 1966. Many thanks to Betsy Paradis of the Bangor Public Library for finding and sending this to me on August 2, 2021.

"Cushing - Edwin Carl Webster, 87, died Thursday at Cushing after a long illness. He was born Dec. 6, 1878, at Fabius N.Y., son of Dillis and Alice (Mumfort) Webster. He was a musician and teacher of cello in his own studio in Boston for many years before his retirement. He was a member of the Lincoln County Orchestra and a member of Soley Masonic Lodge of Woburn, Mass. Survivors incude a daughter Mrs. Priscilla Haag, of Boston; one sister, Mrs. Darius Robinson of Milford, N.H.; three grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held in the spring."

I was contacted by Julie Meredith on April 10, 2021, and she emailed me the photo of Mr. Webster as well as the following thoughts from her research:

"The 1930 US Census has Carl E. Webster in Somerville, Middlesex, Massachusetts living with his wife Henrietta G. Also in the household are his daughter Priscilla Haag and son-in-law, G. Morris Haag. Carl lists his age as 51, which would put him born in about 1879 or late 1878. (The actual birth date was Dec 6, 1878 in Fabius, New York)

According to his WWI draft registration card, he was medium height, medium build, Brown had born eyes, and brown hair.
According to his WWII draft registration card, he was 5’ 6” tall, had brown eyes, a light complexion, and bald.

His Marriage record states his wife was Henrietta Gotham Whitney and they married on 3 October 1905 in Sommerville, Massachusetts
He reports he was born in New York and works as Cello Teacher. His wife was born in Massachusetts, as was his daughter.

A 1934 City directory lists him as a violin and cello teacher.

I have seen reports he died in 1945, but I found a newspaper article from 1957 of him playing a concert in Maine so I know he didn’t die in 1945 because I found his obituary in the Bangor Daily News in 1966. He died 17 March 1966 in Cushing, Maine. It appears he went by his middle name and was actually born Edwin Carl Webster. (I find that often in Genealogy)."

Scherzo
Susanne Beer, cello
(pianist not identified) 

Scherzo
Music Institute of Chicago Winter Cello Festival 2015  
March 1, 2015 at Nichols Hall Evanston